


The President's Daughter

by FallingForTheStars



Category: The Politician (TV 2019)
Genre: AU - River lives, Accepting Parents, Adoption, Comfort, Domestic Bliss, Fluff and Angst, Fourth of July, Loving Parents, M/M, Married Couple, Married Life, No Smut, Other, River's famous breathing exercises, Social Anxiety, Sorry if this is terrible my Dad was playing yacht rock when I wrote this, gay relationships, no beta read
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-06
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:15:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24574432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FallingForTheStars/pseuds/FallingForTheStars
Summary: Being the President’s daughter is not always an ideal situation.Especially when said person has anxiety. The constant gatherings, campaigns, speeches, and endless dinner parties were at times, incredibly tedious and nerve-wracking.Thankfully, she has two awesome Dads to get her through it.
Relationships: River Barkley/Payton Hobart, familial relationships - Relationship
Comments: 5
Kudos: 45





	The President's Daughter

**Author's Note:**

> Hi Beautiful People!  
> I'm going to start with a small disclaimer: 
> 
> 1\. The timeline is a little wonky so I'm just going to apologize in advance  
> 2\. Please note that there are brief mentions of anxiety in this work which may be triggering to some people  
> 3\. This fanfiction is a little out there but please give it a chance!
> 
> I had so much fun writing this simply because I almost never write anything super soft like this. I hope you guys enjoy it and it allows you to escape for a little bit! 
> 
> Comments and kudos are so appreciated! I also take requests!
> 
> Love to all!

For Paige Barkley-Hobart life was never really normal to begin with. 

Her parents, Payton and River Hobart (formerly River Barkley) were married straight out of college (though there wasn't much 'straight' about it). At just 23 years old respectively, their quest to conquer the world began. Together, they made their way through countless campaigns, speeches, dinner, and elections. Payton worked his way up from New York State Senator, holding the position for six years with his loving husband at his side before moving on to his biggest aspiration yet: President of the United States.

The goal was the White House, a dream he had had since he was seven, an objective that would be achieved in record time. By the time he was an eligible age to run for office, the title was practically his. Needless to say, he won the election by a landslide. That was nearly two years ago.

That's when Paige came into their lives. 

Payton always imagined having kids once he was President, but he certainly never imagined having them with River Barkley, captain of the lacrosse team in High School, who believes in small kindnesses and regulated breathing. 

Obviously, Paige wasn't really their child; they had adopted her when she was just nine years old, but both men had fallen in love with the little girl. 

Paige had been alone for almost all the years she'd been on Earth, abandoned by her mother and born to a father she never knew. For the next decade, she was in and out of orphanages, bounced from one foster-family to the next, as lost as a penny dropped in the street. The day she was adopted, it had been like a dream. Hell, it was a dream. She had waited for the day when she got something that was finally hers. Something that really truly belonged to her. A family.

Being tossed from home to home had taken a toll on her throughout the years, and Paige often found herself struggling to forget the life she lived before River and Payton. Some days, her anxiety was worse than it had been in years, heightened by the drastic changes in her life in such a short amount of time. Even though being in the public eye was never something she desired, Paige took everything in stride, determined to be the best daughter she could.

It was the least she could do after everything her parents had given her.  
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Today was different though.

The second Paige woke up she felt it. Anxiety coiled in her veins. Lungs feeling like they were filled with sand. The familiar tangle of nerves in her stomach. It was July fourth and the whole family was expected to make an appearance. Usually, Paige was fine with going out in public, but it often kicked up her anxiety levels. The crowds of people, the photographers, the loud noises made Paige feel like she was suffocating. The only thing that was comforting about situations like these were the constant of her parents being by her side. She had talked to them about her anxiety before and they knew her feelings about large public events like this, telling her that if she ever didn’t want to go, she didn’t have to. 

“Ugghhhh,” she groans into her pillow and gropes blindly for the clock on the bedside table as the alarm cuts through the early-morning shuffle of quiet noises. The clock reads 7 on the dot. In other words, stupid o’clock in the morning. Paige rolls over and buries her face in a pillow. Sun was shining through the gossamer curtains in her room and she winces as the light hits her tired eyes.

Her parents were probably already up, and knowing them, had been for two hours or so. How adults could get up so early, she would never know.

Just as she was about to drift off to sleep again after ten minutes of avoiding the day, a soft knock startled her from her sleepy state. Crap. Quickly, Paige rolled out of bed, practically landing on the floor in her haste to appear wide awake.  
“Hey Paige, can I come in?”

She stands up quickly as she hears her dad's voice and runs a hand through her shoulder-length hair, hoping it didn't look as disheveled as it most likely did.  
“Yep!” She calls back, her voice a pitch higher than normal, trying to maintain a chipper and totally-wide-awake-thank-you-very-much facade. The door opens slowly. River pokes his head in and smiles upon seeing his daughter. He was always smiling, even more so since he had gotten married and started a family. 

In some ways, they had all found their version of happiness here.

“Good morning.” The door opens completely and Paige walks over to hug her Dad. River wraps his arms around her tightly. Paige goes to sit back on her bed.  
“You just woke up, didn’t you?” he asks, taking in her unmade bed and rumpled pajamas. 

She cracks a smile and nods. He grins knowingly and shakes his head.  
“Your Dad and I have been up for hours. We leave in two and a half hours.”  
“Sounds good,” she says absently, feeling the familiar little twist of dread in her stomach at the prospect of facing all those people, not to mention reporters.  
“Hey,” River says, just as he’s about to shut the door. “Happy Fourth of July, honey.”  
The door closes softly, leaving Paige alone with her thoughts and the daunting prospect of the day she did not want to face. 

She dragged her feet getting ready and both River and Payton had to gently urge her to move a little faster into her day. t was a weird sort of push and pull throughout the morning, a constant internal battle: she was determined to make her family proud by going to the event with a winning smile on her face, but on the other hand, the thought of doing so made her stomach knot uncomfortably.

At 8:45, she was dressed and ready to go. 

Paige trudges out of her room, a small pit in her stomach. She walks down the hallway, hearing low voices and other soft morning noises. The sounds were comforting, familiar, and calmed her slightly. Most likely, her parents were in the kitchen or their own room. She decides to check the bedroom first. Paige walks down the hall, passing about half a dozen closed doors on her way. Her footsteps are muffled on the plush carpet. Needless to say, this place was huge. Finally, she reaches her parents room and knocks loudly. No reply. Tentatively, she pushes the door open. The lights are dim and the bed is made. The room is empty.

They must be in the kitchen, she thinks to herself.

Paige reaches the top of the large staircase that leads to the first floor and jogs down the stairs, trying and failing to keep her footfalls soft. 34 steps later and she reaches the first floor, bounding her way through the house, voices growing steadily louder as she gets closer to the kitchen. Her first instinct about her father’s whereabouts was correct, apparently. She enters the brightly-lit kitchen, looking vibrant in the morning light, white walls and wooden floorboards gleaming. Her Dad’s are both sitting at the long breakfast table, china and cutlery glinting in the morning sun that filters through the windows.

She smiles to herself, feeling some of the tension in her body dissipate as she sets eyes on her parents.

Payton and River are sitting at the table across from each other. Each of them have a steaming mug of coffee in front of them, and every so often, one of them picks up their mug and sips the steaming liquid. 

Payton’s holding a newspaper and flips through it absently. He looks relaxed, happy, and every so often River will look over at him and they’ll smile at each other.

There’s a feeling of lightness in the room, something that suspends itself from the ceiling and hangs in the air like an invisible cloud. A beautiful force of happiness. 

They both look up as she enters.

“Good morning...again. How’d you sleep?” Payton asks, fixing her with a bright smile and a gentle look. She nods and smiles back.  
“Pretty well, I guess.” She flops down on the chair across from him and fiddles with the buttons on her dress. It was a pretty dark blue color that matched her eyes.  
“It’s a big day today. Are you ready?” River questions, glancing up to look at her. Both of them still their movements as they wait for their daughter to reply, knowing how she felt about events like these.  
Paige shrugs nonchalantly. 

“Yeah, I guess so…” she says, not meeting their eyes.

River and Payton exchange a, slightly concerned look across the table but drop the subject. Both of them are aware of the anxiety that plagues her in public situations like these, and they did their best to ease her discomfort in whatever ways they could. After a moment of silence, Payton gets up and squeezes her shoulder comfortingly. 

“I should finish getting ready,” he says and heads upstairs without another word. After another minute or two of prolonged silence from both River and Paige, River stands too. He gives her a little reassuring smile and follows his husband up the flight of winding stairs. 

They were going to talk about her, she was sure of it. Not that she minded, not really. It was only because they cared. 

‘I’m not as brave as I should be’, she thinks numbly, allowing the words to resonate in her mind for a second, dread twisting in her stomach as she glances at the clock that hangs over the doorway, watching the time click by quickly. Being in a room with so many other people made space for voices. Voices saying she wasn’t good enough. Voices saying she wasn’t good enough to be where she was. Voices saying she wasn’t deserving of the love she had found. Sometimes when she’s standing in front of all those people, all those cameras clicking, all those voices murmuring, she wonders if they can tell. Can see the real her, the child who went from having nothing to everything in the blink of an eye. The child who felt trapped in a room full of people she didn’t know. The child that needed the people she loved more than she cared to admit. 

With that final thought she stands up quickly, causing the cutlery that sits on the table to tremor with a light clinking noise. She ignores it for now and pushes her chair in forcefully, before climbing up the stairs. 

Once on the second floor, Paige heads straight to her parents room, this time certain about their whereabouts. She was about to just push open the door but then decided against it. She didn’t want to catch them off guard or interrupt them. She knocks softly instead. The quiet voices coming inside the room stop almost immediately.

“Come in.” a voice calls from inside the room. 

She pushes open the heavy wooden door, hearing the familiar click of the lock unhinging and takes a deep breath, not knowing exactly what her plan was.  
When she enters she sees River sitting on the large bed in the middle of the room and Payton standing in front of him, adjusting a colorful tie around his neck. Both of them had clearly just been in the middle of a conversation, and the twin looks of seriousness on their faces drop quickly into easy looks. Paige watches it happen right in front of her eyes, the quick change in facial expressions, the ease of posture. Trying to pretend they didn’t worry. It makes her heart clench a little. She can see the love in their eyes as she shuts the door quickly behind her and steps farther into the room. She seriously doesn’t have a plan. Before she can think of anything to say, River pats the spot on the bed next to him invitingly and she walks over to the bed and plunks herself down. River wraps an arm around her and she leans into his embrace, allowing her eyes to close for a moment in contentment. 

“We know you sometimes get nervous in social situations like this.” River starts, turning to look at her. She bows her head in embarrassment. 

“And you know we’ll never force you to do something you’re not comfortable doing. You know that right?”

She nods, still not meeting his eyes. 

Payton speaks up next.

“I get nervous during these things too.”

She glances up at her Dad, shocked. 

“Really?”

“Absolutely.”

But I thought...I thought-”

“What?” River chimes in, a grin plastered on his face. “That your Dad was perfect? Far from it.” He squeezes Paige’s shoulder comfortingly. 

“Hey!” Payton exclaims, faking outrage as he finishes knotting his tie. A smile ghosts his face which elicits a chuckle from Paige. A moment of silence passes thoughtfully.

“But,” Payton starts, a look of genuineness on his face as he looks back at his daughter. “In all seriousness, It’s normal to be daunted by big events like this. It doesn’t mean anything’s wrong with you.”

“You want to do a breathing exercise with me?” River asks and Payton shakes his head, laughing. 

“What?” Paige looks at him, slightly baffled by the strange request until Payton cuts in again.

“It’s what your Dad and I always used to do before I had a big speech back in high school. To help calm me down.” Paige looks even more confused, if that’s even possible.

“Never mind. The point is, we all get anxious before different things. That’s okay.” River says. Payton comes over to sit on the other side of Paige, squeezing her free hand gently. 

It’s human.” Payton adds and he and River share a look, knowing and secretive and gentle, a look that conveys a history Paige may never know the magnitude of. A look full of love and exasperation and warmth. It almost feels wrong to see it and she looks away for a minute but then smiles. In this moment Paige’s heart fills up with so much love she’s sure it will explode right then and there. Surrounded by the two people she loves most in the world, she’s never felt happier.

A few minutes pass as the little family sits in silence, arms around each other, secure in the love they feel. It’s River who breaks the peaceful silence first, standing up with a jolt.  
“Alright, if we don’t get a move on we’re gonna be late. You two ready?”

Payton looks at Paige once more in confirmation, making sure she’s not having any second thoughts and she gives a reassuring nod.  
“Yep,” she says. “I’m ready.”  
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Payton became the youngest President in the history of the United States, as well as the first openly gay man to claim the high position. River Barkley assumed the position of “First Gentlemen of the United States” and wore the title proudly. Their wonderful daughter stayed by their side. Slowly but surely, they opened the world up to new conversations, to new ideas, to new ways of thinking about life. There was a day when River promised Payton he would change the world. 

They changed it together.


End file.
